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By 1900, all Takahes were believed to be extinct. However, in 1948, some birds were discovered in an almost inaccessible valley on South Island, New Zealand. These birds are now identified as the other species: Porphyrio hochstetteri.
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Traditionally the North Island Takahē was considered conspecific with the threatened South Island Takahe P. hochstetteri.
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Takahe - Endemic Bird On The Brink of Extinction The Takahe is a large member of the family Rallidae closely related to the Purple Gallinule.
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The Rallidae present the very noteworthy woodhens, Ocydromus, and the takahe, Notornis, which is almost extinct.
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In New Zealand, they range in size from the large flightless Takahe to the small marsh crake and include Weka and the Australasian coot.
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They also have the only Takahe on the North Island, two males that are very visible and vocal, fantastic!!
They have a kaka feeding at 3:00, just a treat, but the birds love it. They have over 100 wild kaka now breeding there, what a lot of fun.
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Maxwell, J. M. (2001) Fiordland takahe: population trends, dynamics and problems. Pp. 61-79 in Lee, W.G. and Jamieson, I.G., eds. The Takahe: 50 years of conservation management and research. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
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The black coots are more adapted to open water than their relatives, and some other large species are called gallinules and swamphens. The largest of this group is the Takahe, at 65 cm (26 inches) and 2.7 kg (6 lbs).
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 See also: Parakeet, Crake, Parrot, Quail, Falcon
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